Smith has worked hundreds of cases since 2006 when she became the first local prosecutor to focus on animal cruelty, but Chancho's story impacted her particularly hard. Every night, she prays for God to safeguard his soul and watch over the family who owned Chancho before a neighbor killed him.

"I know a lot of people don't think animals have souls, but I feel like when I'm in heaven, I'm going to get to see all my animals," she said.

Smith, a former geologist, became an environmental crimes prosecutor as a second career. She never intended to begin a third.

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Six years ago, with her caseload a little light, she asked to work animal cruelty cases in her free time. Today, she's seen as the architect of the city's coordinated community effort to end animal cruelty.

Haphazard procedures

Animal cruelty cases in Harris County used to be investigated and prosecuted unevenly, Smith said.

In one case, a man stabbed a puppy and threw the still-crying dog into a dumpster. The responding officer took no photos of the scene, did not retrieve the knife used by the man, and after shooting the puppy left it in the dumpster.

"If an officer went out on any other criminal case, they would never leave evidence at the scene," Smith said.

In the year afterward, BARC, the city animal shelter, lost the bodies of three animal victims before they could be examined, again leaving Smith with little proof to show a jury.

"A lot of people think you're wasting resources on animals," she said. "But they don't understand there's a link between animal violence and human violence."

In some training presentations, she shows photos of a home torn apart and a dog butchered as part of one man's death threat to a lover.

"As a community, we don't want to tolerate any violence," Smith said. "It's about more than just the animals. It's about the people."

Smith knew she had to connect the unique roles of law enforcement and animal welfare groups.

Reluctant and skeptical of each other, it took her more than a year to get them in the same room.

2009 a watershed year

Today, Houston is the only city in the state with specially trained officers for animal cruelty cases. Area welfare organizations also partner with Harris County to fund officers dedicated to investigating these crimes, and they provide veterinary care and forensic analysis at no cost to taxpayers.

In 2009, District Attorney Pat Lykos officially created the animal cruelty section, named Smith its chief and hired two people to assist her.

In 2005, the county handled 62 cruelty and dog-fighting cases. In the first eleven months of this year, Smith's office reviewed more than 200 investigations involving more than 800 animals. None of them involved dog-fighting, which she credits to a 2008 bust that was one of the nation's largest.

Cities and counties across Texas now model their efforts after Smith's work, often asking her to train their staffs. Some of the state's law schools have added animal cruelty law to their training.

"She's just made it immensely easy for me to jump right in," said Elizabeth Cuchens, a Galveston County prosecutor who interned for Smith. Cuchens works primarily on major fraud and white-collar crime, but makes time to pursue felony animal cruelty cases.

Cuchens said prosecutors in coastal states work with stronger animal cruelty laws than those in Texas, but said Smith has contributed much to changing attitudes in the Legislature and the wider South.

"Belinda's right up there with the best of them," Cuchens said. "Even to this day, I still email her with questions."

Emotionally draining

A few months after taking on the animal cases on the side, Smith had to choose whether to commit completely to her new passion, or stick with environmental crimes.

"A part of me was saying, 'Somebody needs to step up. Somebody needs to do it,' " Smith recalled. "Another part was saying, 'Emotionally, Belinda, seriously: Do you think you can handle this?'

"Finally I was like, 'You can do it. You can do it. You can do it!' " Smith said, laughing.

She was in a good mood earlier this month as she visited Staci, a black terrier mix who had made a full recovery after being repeatedly bashed against a wall.

As soon as Timothy Harkness, chief veterinarian at the Houston Humane Society, set Staci down, she wagged her whole body in greeting Smith, showing no signs of having had major surgery on her hip.

Harkness, a long- certified veterinary forensic expert, said he's been glad to work with Smith and see the changes she's brought to the county.